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An anonymous reader writes "India is planning a mission to probe the Sun before 2020. The nation launched a Moon mission a few years ago and sent a Mars mission late last year. From the article: 'Indian Space Research Organization has lined up over a dozen missions, including its first probe on the Sun, Isro chairman K Radhakrishnan said on Friday. Though, the mission to probe the Sun was already on the cards, the agency now has a clear picture of its plan and had put a timeframe within which it hoped to undertake it, Radhakrishnan said, while addressing students at a private University here. He said the "Aditya" mission to the Sun had been planned between 2017 and 2020.'"

In related news: Food is dependent on the sun. Understanding the sun better could be key to increasing yields.In other news: Space tech often makes it way down to doing practical things, including help feed the poor

In other news: Space tech often makes it way down to doing practical things, including help feed the poor

You mean like frying up all that food they don't have in Teflon frying pans?
I kid, I kid.
But you gotta admit that usually the link between space exploration and feeding the poor is quite indirect and relies on one of those "trickle down" types of theories.

Are you serious? Do you really think that this probe to the sun is going to result in better growing of crops? Seriously? Do you really think that India's money spent on a sun probe will result in more food than say the same investment in solar panels for a more steady electricity supply?

Yes, I do think that a probe into the sun to understand some of the environment which makes up the photosphere and the outer layers of the Sun better will indeed be far better spent money than dumping that into a bunch of foreign-made solar panels in some remote village to provide a steady supply of electricity. This is especially true for a country with as many people as live in India, where the individual investment into such a project is quite small per person and the pay-off can be so much more.

Try to learn about basic research and the benefits that have come from it. I certainly don't feel bad about myself feeling this way nor should SJHillman for that matter either. Basic research in space (including the stuff going on with the ISS) has been able to feed, clothe, and in general improve the overall standard of living for far more people than any other single endeavor in the past hundred years. It is literally saving lives, lives which in many cases can even be counted. I will even go so far as to suggest that we've only just started on the ways it can help humanity as a whole, and India in particular.

For this particular research in particular, it can help explain some of the non-anthroprogenic causes of global warming (IMHO something useful to know about too) and can certainly pave the way to help with much more accurate weather forecasts and other tools that can most certainly help out that village you are so concerned about. The pay-off for spending this money may take decades or even centuries to completely realize, but it will happen. A bit of a risk I suppose and knowing it is helping all of mankind at the same time rather than just the one village, but I certainly congratulate India on trying this project.

Actually India offers foreign aids to other foreign countries too. India is still a net gainer in foreign aid (receives more foreign aid, that it gives out to other countries), but calling them dependent on foreign aid is ridiculous. It is peanuts compared to their yearly budget.

A rat done bit my sister Nell.(with Whitey on the moon)Her face and arms began to swell.(and Whitey's on the moon)I can't pay no doctor bill.(but Whitey's on the moon)Ten years from now I'll be payin' still.(while Whitey's on the moon)The man jus' upped my rent las' night.('cause Whitey's on the moon)No hot water, no toilets, no lights.(but Whitey's on the moon)I wonder why he's uppi' me?('cause Whitey's on the moon?)I wuz already payin' 'im fifty a week.(with Whitey on the moon)Taxes takin' my whole damn check,Junkies makin' me a nervous wreck,The price of food is goin' up,An' as if all that shit wuzn't enough:A rat done bit my sister Nell.(with Whitey on the moon)Her face an' arm began to swell.(but Whitey's on the moon)Was all that money I made las' year(for Whitey on the moon?)How come there ain't no money here?(Hmm! Whitey's on the moon)Y'know I jus' 'bout had my fill(of Whitey on the moon)I think I'll sen' these doctor bills,Airmail special(to Whitey on the moon)

Please correct me if I am wrong, but a country which is rich enough and has the money to send aids to other countries suppose to be not receiving any more aids.

Would it be seen as anti-Semetic to mention Israel at this point? Or would it be seen as just pointing out a place with damn good lobbyists and enough of an economy that they don't really need that aid money.

My mistake.It's also an important source of technology transfer - for instance the "businessmen" who sold a tank targeting system unavailable to all other US allies to a Chinese company, who then onsold it to Iran! To be fair the government of Israel were very unhappy about that one.

Rape isn't comperable between countries. As Assange found out, consentual sex in sweeden can be "rape" and as such, the defintions are not uniform. And reported rapes are low in Saudi Arabia, where being raped is a capital crime. Some places encourage reported rapes, others discourage it, and the definition not being uniform leads to an inability to reliably compare rape statistics between countries.

Being raped is not a capital crime in Saudi Arabia. The myth of that got out when a married woman claimed she was raped, and since there wasn't enough evidence to prove it, the prosecutor decided to charge her with adultery. It's screwed up and Muslims around the world protested the case, but they're a US-backed dictatorship and that's that.

Adultry isn't just married infidelity. Sex outside marriage is adultry (not just being married and having sex with a non-spouse, but having any sex with someone you aren't married to, regardless of your and their marriage status) in many of "those places". Being raped is not a defense for adultry. So yes, being raped can be a capital crime. That's not a myth. That's the law.

Citation needed. Sex outside of marriage is referred to as "Zina" in Saudi Arabia, which is not a capital offense. Adultery is a subset of sex crime law, and is punished by flogging if unmarried, only married people qualify for capital punishment for adultery..

They do not need anyone's backing and that definitely includes the US. China would gladly replace the US in SA. As long as they can sell their oil to anyone they want they hardly need US backing. People claiming the US backs dictators and non-democratic leaders are practically calling for the US to interfere in another countries internal matters. On the other hand they also complain when the US does interfere so the best course of action would be to do nothing which appears to be the current US foreign pol

Current US foreign policy is not "do nothing." The US government backed the Bahraini dictatorship and looked the other way as their police fired on pro-democracy protestors and refused to sanction the government despite its documented use of torture and human rights abuses. Why? Because the Bahraini king allowed the US Navy to park its ships there. The US government approved the sale of weapons to the Saudi dictatorship that human rights groups warned would be used on protestors and for torture (e.g. sellin

Exactly how did they back the Bahraini government? Deploy troops? Issue dire warnings and threats against protestors? Initiate drone strikes on the protesters? They issued a standard statement to the effect that people have complaints that should be solved peacefully through dialog and not violence, Anything more than that and it is considered interfering in another countries internal business isn't it?

Compare how the US responded to similar actions in Iran; the president held press conferences and pressed the issue at the UN and got Europe to agree to sanctions. With Bahrain, no action was taken; the implication being that protesters' livesans democracy are worth less than navy parking spaces.

US-made tanks sold to Saudi stormed into Bahrain and crushed the protests. The US government decided that was not enough reason to deny further sales.

You cannot compare the US relationship with Bahrain with US relations with Iran. Last time I checked Bahrain was not funding and arming just about every terrorist group in the region for the express purpose of undermining US policy. Hezbollah and Hamas are Iran's version of an NGO. When it comes to real world international relations every situation is different. In this case the Iranians were supporting and encouraging the Bahrain protesters to undermine the government of Bahrain. You know just like the US

The "per capita rate" is mostly irrelevant when most of what the modern world would consider "Rape" is entirely legal in India. Once a woman has been married, often by force, under the age of 15, it is impossible for her to divorce and the only part of the sexual assault considered "Illegal" is if her "Husband" causes her physical injury. Then he's charged with misdemeanor assault, not rape.

Then there's the armed "Rape squads" patroling the slums where not much of anything will be reported due to the comple

How are they to withstand the heat and gravity sending a probe to the sun? Surely this is just to get close to take closeup pictures. But we have Helios for that. And will the probe be named the Icarus 1?

With all of the problems that exist in India, I don't see how they are going to get it done. Even if they do, at what ultimate cost? I think of all those who will suffer as a result of a government fools errand.

India has more than a `homeless` problem; I don't see how you can equate the two, unless you're rather willfully ignoring the massive problems India is turning its back on to fund these `we're in the space-age club too` extravagances.

India has more than a `homeless` problem; I don't see how you can equate the two, unless you're rather willfully ignoring the massive problems India is turning its back on to fund these `we're in the space-age club too` extravagances.

At some point India needs to leave the "we is stupid 'n need your money 'cause we dn't know better" attitude. If there is something that India needs, it is to give its people the freedom to do whatever it is that they do best and stop trying to coddle them. Defend people's right to life, liberty, and property but otherwise stay out of their affairs and let them succeed rather than making everybody a charity case.

I currently live in a place that a century ago was far more destitute and a much more harsh cl

India has more than enough trees and land and labor to build homes and sewers for everyone. They could. They just don't. Probably for the same reason the US has far vacant more homes than homeless people.

With all of the problems that exist in India, I don't see how they are going to get it done. Even if they do, at what ultimate cost? I think of all those who will suffer as a result of a government fools errand.

While I will admit India has some problems, they are an emerging country and certainly not the destitute poor that you are making it out to be. I also admire the Indian space program as something which really is a top rated endeavor that ranks right with China, Russia, and America. They have very competent rocket scientists that know how to put a vehicle into orbit, and really aren't all that far away from being able to successful launch crewed flights of their own if it wasn't for stupid and silly comments like yours who depict India as some poor unfortunate backwater country not worthy of anything but pity.

Heck, I am very impressed they are even considering this probe, and it represents a level of sophistication and ability which so far no other country on the Earth, not even America, has been able to accomplish. Getting something into the Sun takes more delta-v than a sample & return mission from Mars and in fact is harder than sending something into interstellar space like the Voyager missions. This literally is the frontier of human experience in any form and that by itself should speak volumes about what India is going to accomplish here.

What nobody seems to be pointing out is that having a program to build rockets that can boost payloads into low earth orbit and beyond is exactly the kind of technology one needs to develop ICBMs and tends to be a bit more politically correct.

Just because your superpower is on the decline and no longer has the capability to do a manned space mission, you don't need to piss on the rising ones for taking their first steps. 40 years from now when they're mining asteroids and outsourcing their cheap crap to the USA, they might come back and rub your nose in it.

A 4 hour filight to the sun(at night, to avoid being burned up!), landed and collected sunspot samples to bring back for the Supreme Leader, and back home by 9:00 P.M. in bed for school the next day...all by a 17 year old boy/astronaut.

Truly remarkable!

The best our youth(USA) can do is cost their fathers $80,000 by posting crap on facebook...sad, really.;-)

Before you wrap up in the flag and sing about how much better your country is than theirs it may be worth noticing that their economy is growing and they don't have nearly half their elected officials trying to sabotage it so they can blame it on the half that is currently in charge.

I hope they will do the needful to make sure probe can kindly revert with gathered data.

On serious note, what does it mean that "mission would be around Earth"? Are we talking about some small sattelite orbiting Earth, which happens to have lenses directed at Sun? And this is "Mission to Probe Sun"? In such case, Hubble telescope was a mission to probe thousands of galaxies and millions of starts...

a.) India always does it cheaper.b.) The capability will go towards providing commercial space services. Its a money maker, rather than a drain. India is already doing this.c.) The problem India has now is not so much as not having money. It does not have non-corrupt institutions to properly distribute the resources. They will improve as education improves in subsequent generations who will then elect better politicians, demand cleaner systems and more effectively fight for their rights. Projects like these inspire students.

c.) The problem [India | United States | China etc etc etc] has now is not so much as not having money. It does not have non-corrupt institutions to properly distribute the resources. They will improve as education improves in subsequent generations who will then elect better politicians, demand cleaner systems and more effectively fight for their rights. Projects like these inspire students.

FTFY. Also, the part about fixing it being reality is the funniest bit of satire I've read in a long time

People demanding the government distribute resources is the PROBLEM, not the solution. We tried communism about 10 times in the last 100 years, it does not work. Markets remain the most efficient and on-target way to "distribute resources".

Im also not sure what you think "corruption" means if youre placing the US, China, and India all in the same category.

Let's not lump everything under communism which has many extra connotations. At most, what you are talking about is socialism. In India, almost everyone agrees that the country needs more education and that no one should have to starve (US poor are a different kind of poor, nothing like Indian poor). The problem is getting the resources to the most needy without most of it leaking out on the way there. Contrast US medicare. Even with some fraud, it is extremely efficient (in terms of money reaching recipien